JPWO2008035655A1 - Recording apparatus, recording method, recording program, and integrated circuit - Google Patents

Abstract

Provided a recording device for generating compression-encoded menu data including a menu screen with good image quality by reducing compression distortion generated on the menu screen included in the menu data when recording the compression-encoded menu data To do. A recording / reproducing apparatus (100) for compressing and encoding an image in which an image element is arranged on a background image and recording the compression-encoded data on a recording medium, and the outer periphery of the image element is used for compression encoding in the background image An image generation unit (111) for generating menu data indicating an image arranged in accordance with the boundary of the macro block or orthogonal transform block, and the menu data generated by the image generation unit (111) is compressed and encoded A compression multiplexing unit (105); and a recording processing unit (106) for recording the menu data compressed and encoded by the compression multiplexing unit (105) on the recording medium (10).

Description

  The present invention relates to a recording apparatus for recording content data including audio and video on a recording medium.

  Conventionally, when playing back recorded content data, data including a menu screen for listing the content data (hereinafter referred to as “menu data”) is recorded on a write-once DVD (Digital Versatile Disk) medium. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1).

  As a method for recording such menu data, for example, image data (hereinafter referred to as “menu screen”) including a menu screen itself in which thumbnails of a plurality of screens included in the content and predetermined fixed images are arranged on a background image are arranged. Data ”) is generated and recorded as image compression encoded data (hereinafter referred to as“ encoded menu data ”).

  Here, the menu data is used in a sense including menu screen data and encoded menu data. That is, the menu screen data is menu data before compression encoding, and the encoded menu data is menu data subjected to compression encoding.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a menu screen included in conventional menu data recorded on a recording medium by such a method.

  In the menu screen shown in the figure, thumbnails 601, thumbnails 602, thumbnails 603, thumbnails 604, thumbnails 605, and thumbnails 606 are arranged on the background image 600.

  Here, the “thumbnail” is a part of an image included in the content recorded on the recording medium. As a specific example, there is a screen obtained by extracting one image from a plurality of screens included in the content and reducing it.

  In the menu screen shown in the figure, a title character corresponding to each thumbnail such as “Title 1”, a character portion for displaying recording information such as “RAM”, and a menu such as “(1/3)” are displayed. A standard image such as a character part that displays information about the page of the screen, a character part and a graphic part that indicate information for guiding the screen transition when the menu screen is composed of a plurality of screens such as “Page2” and an arrow is a background image 600.

Encoded menu data is generated by subjecting the menu screen data including such a menu screen to image compression encoding. Image compression coding is available in JPEG, MPEG2, MPEG4, H.264. In general, compression is performed by an encoding method using DCT (Discrete Cosin Transform) such as H.264.
JP 2004-318923 A

  When the disc menu screen is compression-encoded, an image in which a plurality of thumbnails having no correlation with the background image are compressed is compressed, resulting in a problem that the image quality is deteriorated as compared with the case of compressing a natural image.

  As described above, the thumbnail is an image generated based on one of the images included in the individual content, for example. Therefore, there is usually no correlation between the plurality of thumbnail images. Therefore, for example, the thumbnails 601 to 606 shown in FIG. 1 have no correlation with each other.

  In addition, when placing thumbnails on a background image as a menu screen, it is common to use images generated as graphics or still images prepared separately for the background image, and there is a correlation between individual thumbnails. No. Therefore, for example, the background image 600 and the thumbnails 601 to 606 shown in FIG. 1 have no correlation with each other.

  On the other hand, image compression encoding compresses image data by utilizing the correlation existing between pixels of an image to be compressed. For this reason, the menu screen as shown in FIG. 1 is more likely to cause compression distortion and the image quality is likely to deteriorate compared to a natural image having a relatively strong correlation on the entire screen.

  In particular, in image compression coding, a method of dividing a screen into block units and performing processing for each block unit is common. At this time, if one block includes both the background image 600 and the thumbnail 601 as in the block 610 in FIG. 1, there is no correlation with each other, so in this block 610, particularly along the outer periphery of the thumbnail 601. Compression distortion such as noise will be noticeable.

  Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and when recording compressed and encoded menu data, the compression distortion generated on the menu screen included in the menu data is reduced, which is favorable. It is an object of the present invention to provide a recording apparatus that generates menu data that is compression-coded including a menu screen for image quality.

  In order to achieve the above object, a recording apparatus according to the present invention is a recording apparatus that compresses and encodes an image in which image elements are arranged on a background image, and records the compression-encoded data on a recording medium. Menu generation means for generating menu data indicating an image in which the image element is arranged in the background image by aligning at least a part of the outer periphery of the macroblock used for compression encoding or the boundary of an orthogonal transform block; Image compression means for compressing and encoding the menu data generated by the menu generation means, and recording means for recording the menu data compressed and encoded by the image compression means on the recording medium.

  As described above, the image elements arranged in the image indicated by the menu data are arranged so that at least a part of the outer periphery thereof is aligned with the boundary of the macro block or the orthogonal transform block used for compression coding. As a result, the outer periphery of the image element is not included in the macro block or the orthogonal transform block. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the pixel of the image element having a low correlation with the background image and the pixel of the background image from being mixed in the same macro block or orthogonal transform block. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the compression distortion in such a block and obtain a good image quality.

  Preferably, the menu further includes: an image selection unit that selects an image included in video data composed of a plurality of images; and a thumbnail creation unit that creates a thumbnail of the image selected by the image selection unit. The generating means aligns at least a part of the straight line portion included in the extension of the thumbnail created by the thumbnail creating means with the macro block used for compression encoding or the boundary of the orthogonal transform block, and the thumbnail The menu data indicating the image arranged in the background image is generated.

  As described above, when the image element is a thumbnail, at least a part of the outer periphery of the thumbnail is arranged so as to be aligned with the boundary of the macro block or the orthogonal transform block used for compression encoding. Thereby, the outer periphery of the thumbnail is not included in the macro block or the orthogonal transform block. Therefore, it is possible to prevent a thumbnail pixel having a low correlation with the background image and a background image pixel from being mixed in the same macro block or orthogonal transform block. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the compression distortion in such a block and obtain a good image quality.

  More preferably, the thumbnail creation means is configured such that the length of each side of the image selected by the image selection means is equal to the length of the side included in the macroblock or orthogonal transform block used for compression encoding. Create a thumbnail that is an integer multiple.

  As described above, the length of each side of the thumbnail is an integral multiple of the length of the side included in the macro block or the orthogonal transform block. When such a thumbnail is arranged so that at least a part of its outer periphery is aligned with the boundary of the macroblock or orthogonal transform block used for compression encoding, the outer periphery of the thumbnail aligned with the boundary of the macroblock or orthogonal transform block Can be increased compared to the case where the length of each side is not an integral multiple. In particular, when the thumbnail is rectangular, all the sides constituting the outer periphery of the thumbnail are aligned with the boundary of the macro block or the orthogonal transform block. Therefore, it is possible to prevent a thumbnail pixel having a low correlation with the background image and a background image pixel from being mixed in the same macro block or orthogonal transform block. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the compression distortion in such a block and obtain a good image quality.

  More preferably, the menu generation unit further transmits at least one of information indicating a position on the background image where the thumbnail is arranged and information indicating a size of the thumbnail to the image compression unit.

  As described above, the menu generation unit transmits the position and size at which the thumbnail is arranged to the image compression unit. As a result, the image compression means can identify the position occupied by the thumbnail on the menu screen indicated by the menu data based on the position and size of the thumbnail, so that the background image and the thumbnail can be compressed and encoded under different conditions. Efficient image compression coding is possible by changing the compression coding conditions for background images and natural images with different image characteristics, such as background images that are monotonous images and thumbnails that are natural images. It becomes possible.

  More preferably, the image compression means further includes a thumbnail from at least one of information indicating the position on the background image where the thumbnail transmitted by the menu generation means is arranged and information indicating the size of the thumbnail. The outer periphery is determined, and the filtering process is not performed on the determined outer periphery of the thumbnail.

  As described above, the image compression unit does not perform the filtering process on the outer periphery determined to be the outer periphery of the thumbnail based on the position and size of the thumbnail. By not performing the filtering process for reducing the compression distortion of the block boundary on the outer periphery of the thumbnail, the boundary of the thumbnail on the background image can be made clear.

  More preferably, the menu generation means selects a fixed image to be arranged on the background image from a fixed image group held in advance, and at least one of the straight line portions included in the outer periphery of the selected fixed image as the background image. The menu data indicating an image arranged in accordance with a boundary of a macro block or orthogonal transform block used for compression encoding is generated.

  As described above, when the image element is a fixed image, at least a part of the outer periphery of the fixed image is arranged so as to be aligned with the boundary of the macro block or the orthogonal transform block used for compression coding. Thereby, the outer periphery of the standard image is not included in the macro block or the orthogonal transform block. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the pixels of the fixed image having a low correlation with the background image and the pixels of the background image from being mixed in the same macro block or orthogonal transform block. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the compression distortion in such a block and obtain a good image quality.

  More preferably, the menu generation means further includes at least a part of a length of the horizontal and vertical straight lines included in the outer periphery of the selected fixed image in the block used for the image compression encoding. A fixed-size image that is an integral multiple of the length of the side to be generated, and at least a part of the straight line portion included in the outer periphery of the generated fixed-image in the background image is a macroblock that is used for compression encoding or orthogonal The menu data indicating the image arranged in accordance with the boundary of the transform block is generated.

  As described above, the length of the straight line portion included in the outer periphery of the standard image is an integral multiple of the length of the side included in the macro block or the orthogonal transform block. When such a fixed image is arranged so that at least a part of the outer periphery thereof matches the boundary of the macroblock or orthogonal transform block used for compression encoding, the fixed image matches the boundary of the macroblock or orthogonal transform block Can be increased compared to the case where the length of each side is not an integral multiple. In particular, when the standard image is a rectangle, all sides constituting the outer periphery of the thumbnail are aligned with the boundary of the macro block or the orthogonal transform block. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the mixture of pixels of a fixed image having a low correlation with the background image and pixels of the background image in the same macro block or orthogonal transform block. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the compression distortion in such a block and obtain a good image quality.

  More preferably, the menu generation unit transmits information indicating a position on the background image where the fixed image is arranged and information indicating a size of the fixed image to the image compression unit.

  As described above, the menu generation unit transmits the position and size where the standard image is arranged to the image compression unit. As a result, the image compression means can specify the position occupied by the fixed image on the menu screen indicated by the menu data based on the position and size of the fixed image, so that the background image and the fixed image can be compressed and encoded under different conditions. Thus, it is possible to efficiently compress and encode an image.

  More preferably, the image compressing unit further includes the information indicating the position on the background image where the fixed image transmitted by the menu generating unit is arranged and the information indicating the size of the fixed image based on the fixed image. The outer periphery is determined, and the filtering process is not performed on the determined outer periphery of the fixed image.

  As described above, the image compression unit does not perform the filtering process on the outer periphery determined to be the outer periphery of the image element based on the position and size of the image element. By not performing the filtering process for reducing the compression distortion of the block boundary on the outer periphery of the thumbnail, the boundary of the thumbnail on the background image can be made clear.

  Further, the image compression means further applies to the standard image indicated by the information indicating the position on the background image where the standard image transmitted by the menu generation unit is arranged and the information indicating the size of the standard image. Thus, encoding is performed with quantization different from that of the background image.

  As described above, the image compression unit performs encoding by performing quantization different from the background image on the standard image. Since the image compression means can specify the position of the image element on the menu screen indicated by the menu data based on the position and size of the image element, it can perform quantization different from the background image only on the standard image, for example, For a standard image, more efficient compression coding such as coarse quantization can be performed.

  In addition to being realized as a recording apparatus, the present invention may be realized as a method for controlling a recording apparatus, a program for causing a computer system to execute the method, and a recording medium on which the program is recorded.

  Further, it may be realized as an integrated circuit incorporated in a recording apparatus, design data for forming the integrated circuit in a program logic device, or a recording medium recording the design data.

  According to the present invention, a macro block or orthogonal transform block including a background image outside each thumbnail is obtained by matching the position and size of thumbnails and standard images arranged on the menu screen with the boundaries of the macro blocks or orthogonal transform blocks. It is possible to prevent the pixels of the thumbnail image having no correlation from being mixed, and to reduce the compression distortion in these blocks. Therefore, it is possible to generate encoded menu data including a menu screen with good image quality.

  Also, the standard image placed on the menu screen can be generated at the same position and size as the thumbnail, so that the compression distortion of the menu image can be reduced. Therefore, encoding including a menu screen with good image quality is possible. A menu can be generated.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a menu screen included in conventional menu data recorded on a recording medium. FIGS. 2A and 2B are perspective views showing the appearance of the recording / reproducing apparatus in the embodiment according to the present invention. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a hardware configuration of the recording / reproducing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an example of processing relating to thumbnail creation executed by the recording / playback apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an example of processing relating to creation of a menu screen executed by the recording / reproducing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a display example of the menu screen in the embodiment according to the present invention. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the structure of a file recorded on a recording medium according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the data structure of the menu file in the embodiment according to the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Recording medium 100 Recording / reproducing apparatus 101 Lens group 102 Imaging part 103 A / D conversion part 104 Video signal processing part 105 Compression multiplexing part 106 Recording processing part 108 Drive control part 109 Input part 110 Control part 111 Image generation part 112 Display part 113 Video signal processing unit 114 Separation / decompression unit 115 Playback processing unit 116 Image memory 117 Thumbnail memory 118 Image reduction unit

(Embodiment)
Embodiments according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an appearance of the recording / reproducing apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment. The recording / reproducing apparatus 100 in the present embodiment is, for example, a digital video camera as shown in this figure. 2A is a perspective view of the recording / reproducing apparatus 100 as viewed from the photographing lens side, and FIG. 2B is a perspective view of the recording / reproducing apparatus 100 as viewed from the eyepiece lens side.

  As shown in FIG. 2B, the recording / reproducing apparatus 100 has a function of recording audio / video content on the recording medium 10. In addition, the recording / reproducing apparatus 100 has a function of reproducing audio / video content recorded on the recording medium 10.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a hardware configuration of the recording / reproducing apparatus 100 in the present embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the recording / reproducing apparatus 100 includes a photographing lens group 101, an imaging unit 102, an A / D conversion unit 103, a video signal processing unit 104, a compression multiplexing unit 105, and a recording process. Unit 106, drive control unit 108, input unit 109, control unit 110, image generation unit 111, display unit 112, video signal processing unit 113, separation / decompression unit 114, reproduction processing unit 115, An image memory 116, a thumbnail memory 117, and an image reduction unit 118 are provided.

  Video signal processing unit 104, compression multiplexing unit 105, recording processing unit 106, drive control unit 108, control unit 110, image generation unit 111, video signal processing unit 113, separation / decompression unit 114, and reproduction The processing unit 115, the image memory 116, the thumbnail memory 117, and the image reduction unit 118 are connected by the internal bus 20, and transmit / receive data to / from each other via the internal bus 20. These parts can be realized by one integrated circuit or a plurality of integrated circuits. It can also be realized as a function exhibited by an integrated circuit that executes a software program.

  The lens group 101 includes a plurality of optical lenses.

  The imaging unit 102 includes an image sensor and captures an image input via the lens group 101. The captured video is output to the A / D converter 103 as an analog signal.

  The A / D conversion unit 103 converts the analog signal output from the imaging unit 102 into a digital signal. The imaging unit 102 outputs the digital signal obtained by the conversion to the video signal processing unit 104.

  The video signal processing unit 104 converts the digital signal output from the A / D conversion unit 103 into a video signal. The video signal processing unit 104 outputs the video signal obtained by the conversion to the compression multiplexing unit 105, selects a representative image from images included in the video signal, and outputs a video signal containing the selected representative image as a content. The image is output to the image reduction unit 118.

  The compression multiplexing unit 105 converts the video signal output from the video signal processing unit 104 and the audio signal output from a part (not shown) into MPEG-2 or H.264. Based on an image compression encoding method such as H.264, compression and multiplexing are performed. The compression multiplexing unit 105 outputs the content data obtained by multiplexing the video signal and the audio signal to the recording processing unit 106.

  The recording processing unit 106 writes the content data output from the compression multiplexing unit 105 to the recording medium 10.

  The drive control unit 108 controls a drive device that drives the recording medium 10.

  The input unit 109 receives a user operation via the input device. The input unit 109 outputs the received user operation to the control unit 110 as operation information.

  In order to execute recording processing, playback processing, and the like in the recording / reproducing apparatus 100, the control unit 110 performs a video signal processing unit 104, a compression multiplexing unit 105, a recording processing unit 106, a drive control unit 108, an image generation unit 111, a video signal. It controls the processing unit 113, the separation / decompression unit 114, and the reproduction processing unit 115.

  The image generation unit 111 cooperates with the video signal processing unit 104, the image memory 116, the thumbnail memory 117, and the image reduction unit 118 to display menu screen data including a menu screen that can list the contents recorded on the recording medium 10. Is generated. Details of the operation for generating the menu screen data will be described later. The image generation unit 111 outputs the generated menu screen data to the image memory 116 and the video signal processing unit 113.

  The image memory 116 is a memory that holds the menu screen data generated by the image generation unit 111.

  The thumbnail memory 117 is a memory that holds data containing thumbnails (hereinafter referred to as “thumbnail data”).

  The image reduction unit 118 acquires the video signal of the representative image of the content from the video signal processing unit 104, creates thumbnail data of the representative image indicated by the acquired video signal, and stores the created thumbnail data in the thumbnail memory 117.

  The display unit 112 displays the video signal output from the video signal processing unit 113 on a monitor or the like.

  The video signal processing unit 113 converts the expanded content output from the separation / expansion unit 114 into a video signal. The video signal processing unit 113 outputs the video signal obtained by the conversion to the display unit 112. Also, the video signal processing unit 113, as necessary, multiplexes the menu image generated by the image generation unit 111 as it is or the expanded content output from the separation / expansion unit 114 and displays it as a video signal. Output to.

  The separation / decompression unit 114 converts the content output from the reproduction processing unit 115 into MPEG-2 or H.264 that the compression multiplexing unit 105 has applied. Based on an encoding method such as H.264, it is separated and expanded. The separation / decompression unit 114 outputs the content obtained by the decompression to the video signal processing unit 113.

  The reproduction processing unit 115 reads content to be reproduced from the recording medium 10. The reproduction processing unit 115 outputs the read content to the separation / decompression unit 114.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an example of processing related to thumbnail creation executed by the recording / reproducing apparatus 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  The image reduction unit 118 acquires the video signal of the representative image of the content from the video signal processing unit 104 (S101).

  The image reduction unit 118 creates thumbnail data containing thumbnails obtained by reducing the representative image indicated by the acquired video signal to an integer multiple of a predetermined block size (S102). Here, the predetermined block size is, for example, the size of a macro block or the size of an orthogonal transform block.

  The image reduction unit 118 stores the created thumbnail data in the thumbnail memory 117 (S103), and ends the process.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an example of processing relating to creation of a menu screen executed by the recording / reproducing apparatus 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  The image generation unit 111 acquires a menu creation instruction that the user inputs to the input unit 109 via the control unit 110 (S201).

  The image generation unit 111 acquires thumbnail data held in the thumbnail memory 117 (S202).

  The image generator 111 represents the origin of the pixel at the upper left corner of the thumbnail when the position of each pixel is represented on coordinates that increase in units of pixels from the upper left corner of the background image to the right in the horizontal direction and downward in the vertical direction. The horizontal distance from is a multiple of a predetermined block horizontal size, and the vertical distance from the origin of the pixel at the upper left corner of the thumbnail is a multiple of the predetermined block vertical size (hereinafter referred to as “integer position”). Menu screen data in which thumbnails are arranged (S203).

  The predetermined block is, for example, a macro block used for image compression encoding or an orthogonal transform block. Such a process is a process for generating the menu data including a screen in which a straight line portion of a thumbnail is used for image compression encoding in accordance with a boundary of an orthogonal transform block or a macro block used for image compression coding. It is an example.

  The image generation unit 111 selects a standard image to be arranged on the menu screen from a group of standard images held by the image generation unit 111, and also displays the integer position of the menu screen indicated by the menu screen data generated in the thumbnail acquisition process (S202). Menu screen data in which thumbnails are arranged is generated (S203).

  The predetermined block is, for example, a macro block used for image compression encoding or an orthogonal transform block. Such processing is performed by selecting a fixed image to be arranged in the background image from a fixed image group held in advance, and a macroblock used for image compression coding for the linear portion of the fixed image selected as the background image, or This is an example of processing for generating menu data having a screen arranged in accordance with the boundary of orthogonal transform blocks.

  The image generation unit 111 stores menu screen data indicating a menu screen on which thumbnails and fixed images are arranged in the image memory 116 (S205).

  The image generation unit 111 transmits information indicating the position and size of each thumbnail and fixed image to the compression multiplexing unit 105 (S206).

  The compression multiplexing unit 111 receives information indicating the position and size of each thumbnail and fixed image from the image generation unit 111 (S207).

  The compression multiplexing unit 105 acquires menu screen data from the image memory 116, refers to information indicating the positions and sizes of the thumbnails and the fixed images, and performs filter processing such as a deblocking filter on the outer periphery of the thumbnails and the fixed images. The encoded menu data is generated by compressing and encoding the menu screen data without performing the above. At the same time, the compression multiplexing unit 105 further compresses and multiplexes other image data, audio data, and the like to the encoded menu data, thereby generating compressed and multiplexed content data (S208).

  Here, the filtering process such as the deblocking filter reduces the compression distortion of the block boundary. However, the filtering process is not performed only on the outer periphery of the thumbnail and the fixed image, so that the boundary between the thumbnail and the fixed image and the background image is reduced. Can be clarified.

  The recording processing unit 106 acquires the compressed and multiplexed content data including the encoded menu data from the compression multiplexing unit 105, and records the acquired compressed and multiplexed content data on the recording medium 10 (S209).

  As described above, the recording / reproducing apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment arranges thumbnails at integer positions of the background image. Since the thumbnail is generally rectangular, this allows at least two sides of the thumbnail to be aligned with a predetermined block boundary. In the present embodiment, the size of the thumbnail created by the image reduction unit 118 is an integer multiple of a predetermined block size. By arranging such thumbnails at integer positions in the background image, all four sides of the thumbnail can be aligned with a predetermined block boundary.

  In this way, by aligning the sides of the thumbnail with the boundary of a predetermined block used in compression encoding, compression distortion at the boundary can be eliminated.

  The thumbnail is an image obtained by reducing the screen included in the content, but is not limited thereto. For example, when the screen included in the content does not satisfy the predetermined number of pixels as the size of the thumbnail arranged on the menu screen, the thumbnail is an image by enlarging the screen.

  FIG. 6 is an example of a menu image generated by the image generation unit 111. The menu image includes a background image 300, thumbnails 301 to 306, and fixed images 310 to 313.

  The upper left corner 321 of the thumbnail 301 shown in this figure is arranged at the first integer from the left and the third integer from the top of the macroblock indicated by the small square in this figure, with the upper left corner of the background image as the origin 320. Yes. Further, the horizontal length of the thumbnail 301 is six macroblocks, and the vertical length is three macroblocks. The other thumbnails 302 to 306 have the same size, and the vertices of the thumbnails 302 to 306 are arranged at integer positions.

  As a result, all four sides of the thumbnail match the macroblock boundary.

  Further, the upper left corner 322 of the standard image 310 is also arranged at an integer position. For the other fixed images 311 to 313, the upper left corner is arranged at an integer position.

  As a result, when the standard image includes a horizontal or vertical straight line starting from the upper left corner, at least a part of the standard image matches the boundary of the macroblock.

  Menu data containing the menu screen shown in this figure is generated by the processing described with reference to FIGS.

  It is necessary to hold the thumbnail until the menu screen data generation is started, that is, until the user instructs the recording / playback apparatus 100 to execute the finalizing process. This is because the thumbnail once stored in the thumbnail memory 117 is recorded. This can be realized by the processing unit 106 reading it out and recording it as a thumbnail file on the recording medium 10. In this case, when executing the finalizing process, the reproduction processing unit 115 reads the thumbnail file from the recording medium 10 and stores the read thumbnail in the thumbnail memory 117, and then the image generating unit 111 generates the menu screen data.

  As another method, instead of the video signal processing unit 104 acquiring a representative image at the time of shooting, the video signal processing unit 113 sequentially reproduces part of the content included in the recording medium 10 at the time of finalizing processing. May be acquired and output to the image reduction unit 118. In this method, it is not necessary to record a thumbnail file on the recording medium 10, but the time required for executing finalization becomes longer.

  When the user instructs execution of the finalizing process on the recording medium 10 via the input unit 109, the image generation unit 111 sequentially reads the thumbnails 301 to 306 from the thumbnail memory 117, and the background image 300 and the fixed images 310 to 313 generated by itself are used as the background. Menu image data arranged in the image 300 and including the menu image shown in FIG. 6 is generated and stored in the image memory 116. At this time, all or some of the fixed images 310 to 313 can be recorded on the recording medium 10 as data different from the menu image as appropriate. Details of this method will be described later.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a file structure recorded on the recording medium 10 in the present embodiment. In FIG. 7, under the content folder (CONTENTS), an info file 11 (info), a menu file 12 (menu), a playlist folder (PLAYLIST), a clip info folder (CLIPINF), and a stream folder (STREAM). ) And are stored.

  In the info file 11 (info), management information of the entire directory is recorded. The menu file 12 (menu) includes information constituting the menu.

  Furthermore, a plurality of playlist files such as “01001.plst” and “02002.plst” are stored under the playlist folder (PLAYLIST). Each playlist file includes information related to the playback order and playback time of content associated with a clip info file to be described later.

  In this figure, for example, in the playlist file 13 (01000.clpi), contents first associated with “00:00:00 to 0:15:30” and “01000.clpi” described later are displayed. Indicates that information indicating that playback is included is included.

  A plurality of clip info files such as “01000.clpi” and “02000.clpi” are stored under the clip info folder (CLIPINF). Each clip info file includes a time table for associating positions of time information and video data and realizing partial reproduction and special reproduction.

  This figure shows, for example, that “01000.m2ts” to be described later is associated with the clip info file 14 (01000.clpi).

  A plurality of stream files such as “01000.m2ts” and “02000.m2ts” are stored under the stream folder (STREAM). Each stream file includes an AV data file.

  The control unit 110 uses three types of files: a playlist file, a clip info file, and a stream file for playback control. In the playlist file, a clip info file to be reproduced and a reproduction time are described. When this playlist file is reproduced, the instructed clip info file is referred to, and the stream file designated by using information such as the time table is reproduced.

  For example, the playlist file 13 (01001.plst) indicates that the clip file “01000.clpi” that is the first clip and the clip file “02000.clpi” that is the second clip are played in this order. Contains information. At this time, for the first clip, the stream file “01000.m2ts” associated with the clip info file “01000.clpi” is reproduced. For the second clip, the stream file “02000.m2ts” associated with the clip info file “02000.clpi” is reproduced.

  FIG. 8 shows the data structure of the menu file in the present embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 8, the menu file 12a is a menu file describing a menu image (see, for example, FIG. 6) that lists the content recorded on the recording medium 10 divided into a plurality of pages.

  The menu file 12a illustrated here includes, in order from the top, each playlist file such as “C & G # 1”, “C & G # 2”, “C & G # 3”, “C & G # 4”,. “C & G”, which is associated data, is included. After that, the data associated with each “C & G” such as “Still Picture # 1,” “Still Picture # 2,” “Still Picture # 3,” “Still Picture # 4,” etc. A certain “Still Picture” is included.

  “C & G” is data composed of control information and fixed image information.

  “Still Picture” is data obtained by encoding a menu image. Also, a part of the standard images constituting the menu image, for example, a frame, a button, and the like are associated with a command for controlling the menu display.

  For example, the recording / reproducing apparatus 100 displays the menu image of the first page including the thumbnail images of the clips described in the playlist file (01001.plst) based on “C & G # 1”. Then, when an operation for displaying the menu of the next page is received from the user in a state where the menu of the first page is displayed, the same operation is performed for “C & G # 2” subsequent to “C & G # 1”. Execute the process. Then, the menu image of the second page including the thumbnail images of the clips described in the playlist file (02002.plst) is displayed. The same applies to “C & G # 3” and “C & G # 4”.

  When playback is performed according to the menu file 12a, the control unit 110 first displays a menu screen as shown in FIG. 6 using “Still Picture # 1” based on “C & G # 1”. In other words, a menu image in which six thumbnail images such as “opening ceremony” and “ball throwing” are arranged on the background image is image-encoded as “Still Picture # 1”, and the color, shape, and the like by the user operation The fixed image information (for example, an arrow 313 indicating Page 2 or a frame indicating whether or not a thumbnail image is selected) is recorded in “C & G” together with the control information. The control unit 110 controls the separation / expansion unit 114 to reproduce the Still Picture # 1, and controls the image generation unit 111 and the video signal processing unit 113 to generate a necessary standard image based on the C & G # 1, and the Still Picture # 1. Multiplex to # 1 and output to the display unit 112 as a menu screen.

  When the user selects a thumbnail image to be reproduced from the menu and performs a reproduction operation, the control unit 110 refers to the corresponding playlist file and reproduces the stream file.

  In the present embodiment, when the image generation unit 111 generates the menu image of FIG. 6, the background image 300 and the thumbnails 301 to 301 are obtained so that good image quality can be obtained in the subsequent compression encoding process in the compression multiplexing unit 105. 306. Restrictions are placed on the arrangement and size of the fixed images 310 to 313.

  Specifically, when the image generation unit 111 arranges the thumbnail 301 on the background image 300, the thumbnail is arranged so that the upper left corner of the thumbnail 301 is an integer position as described above.

  For example, the compression multiplexing unit 105 uses MPEG2, MPEG4, or H.264. When the compression encoding is performed by H.264, the image generation unit 111 sets the thumbnail 301 so that the pixel 321 at the upper left corner of the thumbnail 301 is an integer position that is separated from the origin by a multiple of 16 pixels that is the macroblock size in both horizontal and vertical directions. It arranges in the background image 300.

  Accordingly, when the compression multiplexing unit 105 encodes the menu image of FIG. 6, when the compression processing is performed by dividing each macroblock in the horizontal and vertical directions from the origin 320, the upper left boundary of the thumbnail 301 coincides with the macroblock boundary. Therefore, on the upper side and the left side of the thumbnail 301, the pixel included in the background image 300 and the pixel included in the thumbnail 301 are avoided from being mixed in the same macroblock, and a macroblock having a large amount of compression distortion is avoided due to the mixing. can do. The same applies to the other thumbnails 302 to 306.

  Further, when the image reduction unit 118 reduces the representative image to generate a thumbnail and stores the thumbnail in the thumbnail memory 117, each horizontal and vertical size of the thumbnail is a multiple of the macro block or the orthogonal transform block in the image compression unit. Generate thumbnails.

  For example, the compression multiplexing unit 105 uses MPEG2, MPEG4, or H.264. When compression encoding is performed using H.264, the image reduction unit 118 generates the thumbnail 301 so that the thumbnail size is a multiple of 16 pixels that is the macroblock size in both horizontal and vertical directions.

  Accordingly, when the compression multiplexing unit 105 encodes the menu image of FIG. 6, when the compression processing is performed by dividing each macroblock in the horizontal and vertical directions from the origin 320, the boundary between the right side and the bottom side of the thumbnail 301 becomes the macroblock boundary. Therefore, the pixels included in the background image 300 and the pixels included in the thumbnail 301 can be prevented from being mixed in the same macroblock, and the occurrence of a macroblock with much compression distortion due to the mixing can be avoided. The same applies to the other thumbnails 302 to 306.

  Furthermore, when the image generation unit 111 arranges the background image 300 and the thumbnails 301 to 306, information indicating the position and size of each thumbnail is transmitted to the compression multiplexing unit 105, and the compression multiplexing unit 105 uses this information. By optimizing the image compression algorithm, the compressed image quality of the menu image can be improved.

  For example, the compression multiplexing unit 105 is H.264. When image compression processing is performed using the H.264 compression encoding algorithm, the following method can be considered.

  First, the background image 300 and the thumbnails 301 to 306 are not referred to each other when performing intra prediction. The second method is to change the initial value of the quantization parameter between when the background image 300 is encoded and when the inside of the thumbnails 301 to 306 is encoded. Third, there is a method in which a deblocking filter is not applied to the boundary portion between the background image 300 and the thumbnails 301 to 306 (for example, these methods are described in “H. Kakuno, Yoshihiro Kikuchi, Teruhiko Suzuki” H .264 / AVC textbook "Impress, August 11, 2004, p.106-113, p.136-138, p.140-144 (Non-patent Document 1)).

  The method described above using the thumbnail as an example is not effective only for the thumbnails 301 to 306. For example, the method is similarly applied to the case where the standard images 310 to 313 in FIG. I can do it.

  Furthermore, since the standard image, particularly the arrow 313, is often expressed by a single color or a limited number of colors and luminance levels, when the image generation unit 111 arranges the background image 300 and the standard images 310 to 313, Information indicating the position and size of each fixed image is transmitted to the compression multiplexing unit 105, and when the compression multiplexing unit 105 encodes the fixed image, the quantization step is made coarser than the background image. As a result, the data amount of the standard image portion can be reduced and the image quality of the menu screen can be improved.

  As described above, according to the recording / reproducing apparatus 100 in the present embodiment, the position and size of the thumbnail are matched with the boundary of the macro block or the orthogonal transform block, so that the macro block or the orthogonal transform block including the background image outside each thumbnail is obtained. It is possible to prevent a pixel of a thumbnail image having no correlation from being mixed, reduce compression distortion in these blocks, and obtain a good image quality.

  Further, at the time of generating the menu image, information indicating the position and / or size of each thumbnail on the menu image is transmitted to the image compression means, and the image compression means performs image compression processing based on the position and / or size information of each thumbnail. By applying, it is possible to reduce the compression distortion of the menu image and obtain a good image quality.

  Also, the standard image generated for multiplexing on the menu image is generated at the same position and size as the thumbnail, or is subjected to image compression, thereby reducing the compression distortion of the menu image and obtaining good image quality. I can do it.

  Furthermore, based on the information indicating the position and / or size of each of the fixed images, the fixed image is encoded by changing the quantization step for the background image portion and encoding the fixed image. The data amount can be reduced and the image quality of the entire menu image can be improved.

(Other)
The rewritable recording medium does not require a finalizing operation. However, a pseudo finalized state can be provided in order to make the operability common with the case of using the write-once recording medium. In this case, a pseudo finalization state can be saved by providing a finalization flag on the rewritable recording medium to indicate the presence or absence of the finalization process as an actual finalization process performed after recording the menu file.

  The recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present invention includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a system LSI (Large Scale Integration), a RAM (Random Access Memory), a ROM (Read Only Memory), a HDD (Hard Disk Network, etc.). May be provided. Furthermore, a drive device that can read from and write to a portable recording medium such as a DVD-RAM, a Blu-ray (registered trademark) disk, or a memory card may be provided.

  Note that the recording / reproducing apparatus may be an embedded system such as a digital video camera, a digital recorder, a digital TV, a game machine, an IP phone, a mobile phone, or the like.

  Further, a program for controlling the recording / reproducing apparatus (hereinafter referred to as a recording / reproducing program) is installed in the HDD or ROM, and each function of the recording / reproducing apparatus is realized by executing the recording / reproducing program. It may be done.

  The recording / reproducing program may be recorded on a recording medium readable by a hardware system such as a computer system or an embedded system. Furthermore, the program may be read and executed by another hardware system via the recording medium. Thereby, each function of the recording / reproducing apparatus can be realized in another hardware system. Here, as a computer system readable recording medium, an optical recording medium (for example, CD-ROM), a magnetic recording medium (for example, hard disk), a magneto-optical recording medium (for example, MO (Magneto-Optical disk)). Etc.) and semiconductor memory (for example, a memory card).

  Further, the recording / reproducing program may be held in a hardware system connected to a network such as the Internet or a local area network. Furthermore, it may be downloaded to another hardware system via a network and executed. Thereby, each function of the recording / reproducing apparatus can be realized in another hardware system. Here, as a network, a terrestrial broadcasting network, a satellite broadcasting network, a PLC (Power Line Communication), a mobile telephone network, a wired communication network (for example, IEEE802.3), and a wireless communication network (for example, IEEE802.11). There is.

  Alternatively, each function of the recording / reproducing apparatus may be realized by a recording / reproducing circuit mounted on the recording / reproducing apparatus.

  The recording / reproducing circuit includes a semi-custom LSI such as a full custom LSI (Large Scale Integration), an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), and a CPLD (Complex Gate Gate Array). It may be formed as a programmable logic device or a dynamically reconfigurable device whose circuit configuration can be dynamically rewritten.

  Furthermore, the design data for forming each function of the recording / reproducing apparatus in the recording / reproducing circuit may be a program described in a hardware description language (hereinafter referred to as an HDL program). Further, it may be a gate level netlist obtained by logical synthesis of an HDL program. Alternatively, macro cell information in which arrangement information, process conditions, and the like are added to a gate level netlist may be used. Further, it may be mask data in which dimensions, timing, and the like are defined. Here, examples of hardware description languages include VHDL (Very high speed integrated circuit Hardware Description Language), Verilog-HDL, and SystemC.

  Furthermore, the design data may be recorded on a recording medium readable by a hardware system such as a computer system or an embedded system. Furthermore, the program may be read and executed by another hardware system via the recording medium. Then, the design data read by the other hardware system via these recording media may be downloaded to the programmable logic device via the download cable.

  Alternatively, the design data may be held in a hardware system connected to a network such as the Internet or a local area network. Furthermore, it may be downloaded to another hardware system via a network and executed. And the design data acquired by other hardware systems via these networks may be downloaded to a programmable logic device via a download cable.

  Alternatively, the design data may be recorded in a serial ROM so that it can be transferred to the FPGA when energized. The design data recorded in the serial ROM may be downloaded directly to the FPGA when energized.

  Alternatively, the design data may be generated by a microprocessor and downloaded to the FPGA when energized.

  The present invention is a recording / reproducing apparatus that records audio and video on a portable recording medium and reproduces the recorded audio and video, particularly for recording AV data on a recording medium such as a semiconductor memory and an optical disk, and the like. Accordingly, it can be used as a video camera or the like that records menu information for displaying a menu screen.

  The present invention relates to a recording apparatus for recording content data including audio and video on a recording medium.

  Conventionally, when playing back recorded content data, data including a menu screen for listing the content data (hereinafter referred to as “menu data”) is recorded on a write-once DVD (Digital Versatile Disk) medium. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1).

  As a method for recording such menu data, for example, image data (hereinafter referred to as “menu screen”) including a menu screen itself in which thumbnails of a plurality of screens included in the content and predetermined fixed images are arranged on a background image are arranged. Data ”) is generated and recorded as image compression encoded data (hereinafter referred to as“ encoded menu data ”).

  Here, the menu data is used in a sense including menu screen data and encoded menu data. That is, the menu screen data is menu data before compression encoding, and the encoded menu data is menu data subjected to compression encoding.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a menu screen included in conventional menu data recorded on a recording medium by such a method.

  In the menu screen shown in the figure, thumbnails 601, thumbnails 602, thumbnails 603, thumbnails 604, thumbnails 605, and thumbnails 606 are arranged on the background image 600.

  Here, the “thumbnail” is a part of an image included in the content recorded on the recording medium. As a specific example, there is a screen obtained by extracting one image from a plurality of screens included in the content and reducing it.

  In the menu screen shown in the figure, a title character corresponding to each thumbnail such as “Title 1”, a character portion for displaying recording information such as “RAM”, and a menu such as “(1/3)” are displayed. A standard image such as a character part that displays information about the page of the screen, a character part and a graphic part that indicate information for guiding the screen transition when the menu screen is composed of a plurality of screens such as “Page2” and an arrow is a background image 600.

Encoded menu data is generated by subjecting the menu screen data including such a menu screen to image compression encoding. Image compression coding is available in JPEG, MPEG2, MPEG4, H.264. In general, compression is performed by an encoding method using DCT (Discrete Cosin Transform) such as H.264.
JP 2004-318923 A

  When the disc menu screen is compression-encoded, an image in which a plurality of thumbnails having no correlation with the background image are compressed is compressed, resulting in a problem that the image quality is deteriorated as compared with the case of compressing a natural image.

  As described above, the thumbnail is an image generated based on one of the images included in the individual content, for example. Therefore, there is usually no correlation between the plurality of thumbnail images. Therefore, for example, the thumbnails 601 to 606 shown in FIG. 1 have no correlation with each other.

  In addition, when placing thumbnails on a background image as a menu screen, it is common to use images generated as graphics or still images prepared separately for the background image, and there is a correlation between individual thumbnails. No. Therefore, for example, the background image 600 and the thumbnails 601 to 606 shown in FIG. 1 have no correlation with each other.

  On the other hand, image compression encoding compresses image data by utilizing the correlation existing between pixels of an image to be compressed. For this reason, the menu screen as shown in FIG. 1 is more likely to cause compression distortion and the image quality is likely to deteriorate compared to a natural image having a relatively strong correlation on the entire screen.

  In particular, in image compression coding, a method of dividing a screen into block units and performing processing for each block unit is common. At this time, if one block includes both the background image 600 and the thumbnail 601 as in the block 610 in FIG. 1, there is no correlation with each other, so in this block 610, particularly along the outer periphery of the thumbnail 601. Compression distortion such as noise will be noticeable.

  Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and when recording compressed and encoded menu data, the compression distortion generated on the menu screen included in the menu data is reduced, which is favorable. It is an object of the present invention to provide a recording apparatus that generates menu data that is compression-coded including a menu screen for image quality.

  In order to achieve the above object, a recording apparatus according to the present invention is a recording apparatus that compresses and encodes an image in which image elements are arranged on a background image, and records the compression-encoded data on a recording medium. Menu generation means for generating menu data indicating an image in which the image element is arranged in the background image by aligning at least a part of the outer periphery of the macroblock used for compression encoding or the boundary of an orthogonal transform block; Image compression means for compressing and encoding the menu data generated by the menu generation means, and recording means for recording the menu data compressed and encoded by the image compression means on the recording medium.

  As described above, the image elements arranged in the image indicated by the menu data are arranged so that at least a part of the outer periphery thereof is aligned with the boundary of the macro block or the orthogonal transform block used for compression coding. As a result, the outer periphery of the image element is not included in the macro block or the orthogonal transform block. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the pixel of the image element having a low correlation with the background image and the pixel of the background image from being mixed in the same macro block or orthogonal transform block. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the compression distortion in such a block and obtain a good image quality.

  Preferably, the menu further includes: an image selection unit that selects an image included in video data composed of a plurality of images; and a thumbnail creation unit that creates a thumbnail of the image selected by the image selection unit. The generating means aligns at least a part of the straight line portion included in the extension of the thumbnail created by the thumbnail creating means with the macro block used for compression encoding or the boundary of the orthogonal transform block, and the thumbnail The menu data indicating the image arranged in the background image is generated.

  As described above, when the image element is a thumbnail, at least a part of the outer periphery of the thumbnail is arranged so as to be aligned with the boundary of the macro block or the orthogonal transform block used for compression encoding. Thereby, the outer periphery of the thumbnail is not included in the macro block or the orthogonal transform block. Therefore, it is possible to prevent a thumbnail pixel having a low correlation with the background image and a background image pixel from being mixed in the same macro block or orthogonal transform block. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the compression distortion in such a block and obtain a good image quality.

  More preferably, the thumbnail creation means is configured such that the length of each side of the image selected by the image selection means is equal to the length of the side included in the macroblock or orthogonal transform block used for compression encoding. Create a thumbnail that is an integer multiple.

  As described above, the length of each side of the thumbnail is an integral multiple of the length of the side included in the macro block or the orthogonal transform block. When such a thumbnail is arranged so that at least a part of its outer periphery is aligned with the boundary of the macroblock or orthogonal transform block used for compression encoding, the outer periphery of the thumbnail aligned with the boundary of the macroblock or orthogonal transform block Can be increased compared to the case where the length of each side is not an integral multiple. In particular, when the thumbnail is rectangular, all the sides constituting the outer periphery of the thumbnail are aligned with the boundary of the macro block or the orthogonal transform block. Therefore, it is possible to prevent a thumbnail pixel having a low correlation with the background image and a background image pixel from being mixed in the same macro block or orthogonal transform block. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the compression distortion in such a block and obtain a good image quality.

  More preferably, the menu generation unit further transmits at least one of information indicating a position on the background image where the thumbnail is arranged and information indicating a size of the thumbnail to the image compression unit.

  As described above, the menu generation unit transmits the position and size at which the thumbnail is arranged to the image compression unit. As a result, the image compression means can identify the position occupied by the thumbnail on the menu screen indicated by the menu data based on the position and size of the thumbnail, so that the background image and the thumbnail can be compressed and encoded under different conditions. Efficient image compression coding is possible by changing the compression coding conditions for background images and natural images with different image characteristics, such as background images that are monotonous images and thumbnails that are natural images. It becomes possible.

  More preferably, the image compression means further includes a thumbnail from at least one of information indicating the position on the background image where the thumbnail transmitted by the menu generation means is arranged and information indicating the size of the thumbnail. The outer periphery is determined, and the filtering process is not performed on the determined outer periphery of the thumbnail.

  As described above, the image compression unit does not perform the filtering process on the outer periphery determined to be the outer periphery of the thumbnail based on the position and size of the thumbnail. By not performing the filtering process for reducing the compression distortion of the block boundary on the outer periphery of the thumbnail, the boundary of the thumbnail on the background image can be made clear.

  More preferably, the menu generation means selects a fixed image to be arranged on the background image from a fixed image group held in advance, and at least one of the straight line portions included in the outer periphery of the selected fixed image as the background image. The menu data indicating an image arranged in accordance with a boundary of a macro block or orthogonal transform block used for compression encoding is generated.

  As described above, when the image element is a fixed image, at least a part of the outer periphery of the fixed image is arranged so as to be aligned with the boundary of the macro block or the orthogonal transform block used for compression coding. Thereby, the outer periphery of the standard image is not included in the macro block or the orthogonal transform block. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the pixels of the fixed image having a low correlation with the background image and the pixels of the background image from being mixed in the same macro block or orthogonal transform block. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the compression distortion in such a block and obtain a good image quality.

  More preferably, the menu generation means further includes at least a part of a length of the horizontal and vertical straight lines included in the outer periphery of the selected fixed image in the block used for the image compression encoding. A fixed-size image that is an integral multiple of the length of the side to be generated, and at least a part of the straight line portion included in the outer periphery of the generated fixed-image in the background image is a macroblock that is used for compression encoding or orthogonal The menu data indicating the image arranged in accordance with the boundary of the transform block is generated.

  As described above, the length of the straight line portion included in the outer periphery of the standard image is an integral multiple of the length of the side included in the macro block or the orthogonal transform block. When such a fixed image is arranged so that at least a part of the outer periphery thereof matches the boundary of the macroblock or orthogonal transform block used for compression encoding, the fixed image matches the boundary of the macroblock or orthogonal transform block Can be increased compared to the case where the length of each side is not an integral multiple. In particular, when the standard image is a rectangle, all sides constituting the outer periphery of the thumbnail are aligned with the boundary of the macro block or the orthogonal transform block. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the mixture of pixels of a fixed image having a low correlation with the background image and pixels of the background image in the same macro block or orthogonal transform block. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the compression distortion in such a block and obtain a good image quality.

  More preferably, the menu generation unit transmits information indicating a position on the background image where the fixed image is arranged and information indicating a size of the fixed image to the image compression unit.

  As described above, the menu generation unit transmits the position and size where the standard image is arranged to the image compression unit. As a result, the image compression means can specify the position occupied by the fixed image on the menu screen indicated by the menu data based on the position and size of the fixed image, so that the background image and the fixed image can be compressed and encoded under different conditions. Thus, it is possible to efficiently compress and encode an image.

  More preferably, the image compressing unit further includes the information indicating the position on the background image where the fixed image transmitted by the menu generating unit is arranged and the information indicating the size of the fixed image based on the fixed image. The outer periphery is determined, and the filtering process is not performed on the determined outer periphery of the fixed image.

  As described above, the image compression unit does not perform the filtering process on the outer periphery determined to be the outer periphery of the image element based on the position and size of the image element. By not performing the filtering process for reducing the compression distortion of the block boundary on the outer periphery of the thumbnail, the boundary of the thumbnail on the background image can be made clear.

  Further, the image compression means further applies to the standard image indicated by the information indicating the position on the background image where the standard image transmitted by the menu generation unit is arranged and the information indicating the size of the standard image. Thus, encoding is performed with quantization different from that of the background image.

  As described above, the image compression unit performs encoding by performing quantization different from the background image on the standard image. Since the image compression means can specify the position of the image element on the menu screen indicated by the menu data based on the position and size of the image element, it can perform quantization different from the background image only on the standard image, for example, For a standard image, more efficient compression coding such as coarse quantization can be performed.

  In addition to being realized as a recording apparatus, the present invention may be realized as a method for controlling a recording apparatus, a program for causing a computer system to execute the method, and a recording medium on which the program is recorded.

  Further, it may be realized as an integrated circuit incorporated in a recording apparatus, design data for forming the integrated circuit in a program logic device, or a recording medium recording the design data.

  According to the present invention, a macro block or orthogonal transform block including a background image outside each thumbnail is obtained by matching the position and size of thumbnails and standard images arranged on the menu screen with the boundaries of the macro blocks or orthogonal transform blocks. It is possible to prevent the pixels of the thumbnail image having no correlation from being mixed, and to reduce the compression distortion in these blocks. Therefore, it is possible to generate encoded menu data including a menu screen with good image quality.

  Also, the standard image placed on the menu screen can be generated at the same position and size as the thumbnail, so that the compression distortion of the menu image can be reduced. Therefore, encoding including a menu screen with good image quality is possible. A menu can be generated.

(Embodiment)
Embodiments according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an appearance of the recording / reproducing apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment. The recording / reproducing apparatus 100 in the present embodiment is, for example, a digital video camera as shown in this figure. 2A is a perspective view of the recording / reproducing apparatus 100 as viewed from the photographing lens side, and FIG. 2B is a perspective view of the recording / reproducing apparatus 100 as viewed from the eyepiece lens side.

  As shown in FIG. 2B, the recording / reproducing apparatus 100 has a function of recording audio / video content on the recording medium 10. In addition, the recording / reproducing apparatus 100 has a function of reproducing audio / video content recorded on the recording medium 10.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a hardware configuration of the recording / reproducing apparatus 100 in the present embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the recording / reproducing apparatus 100 includes a photographing lens group 101, an imaging unit 102, an A / D conversion unit 103, a video signal processing unit 104, a compression multiplexing unit 105, and a recording process. Unit 106, drive control unit 108, input unit 109, control unit 110, image generation unit 111, display unit 112, video signal processing unit 113, separation / decompression unit 114, reproduction processing unit 115, An image memory 116, a thumbnail memory 117, and an image reduction unit 118 are provided.

  Video signal processing unit 104, compression multiplexing unit 105, recording processing unit 106, drive control unit 108, control unit 110, image generation unit 111, video signal processing unit 113, separation / decompression unit 114, and reproduction The processing unit 115, the image memory 116, the thumbnail memory 117, and the image reduction unit 118 are connected by the internal bus 20, and transmit / receive data to / from each other via the internal bus 20. These parts can be realized by one integrated circuit or a plurality of integrated circuits. It can also be realized as a function exhibited by an integrated circuit that executes a software program.

  The lens group 101 includes a plurality of optical lenses.

  The imaging unit 102 includes an image sensor and captures an image input via the lens group 101. The captured video is output to the A / D converter 103 as an analog signal.

  The A / D conversion unit 103 converts the analog signal output from the imaging unit 102 into a digital signal. The imaging unit 102 outputs the digital signal obtained by the conversion to the video signal processing unit 104.

  The video signal processing unit 104 converts the digital signal output from the A / D conversion unit 103 into a video signal. The video signal processing unit 104 outputs the video signal obtained by the conversion to the compression multiplexing unit 105, selects a representative image from images included in the video signal, and outputs a video signal containing the selected representative image as a content. The image is output to the image reduction unit 118.

  The compression multiplexing unit 105 converts the video signal output from the video signal processing unit 104 and the audio signal output from a part (not shown) into MPEG-2 or H.264. Based on an image compression encoding method such as H.264, compression and multiplexing are performed. The compression multiplexing unit 105 outputs the content data obtained by multiplexing the video signal and the audio signal to the recording processing unit 106.

  The recording processing unit 106 writes the content data output from the compression multiplexing unit 105 to the recording medium 10.

  The drive control unit 108 controls a drive device that drives the recording medium 10.

  The input unit 109 receives a user operation via the input device. The input unit 109 outputs the received user operation to the control unit 110 as operation information.

  In order to execute recording processing, playback processing, and the like in the recording / reproducing apparatus 100, the control unit 110 performs a video signal processing unit 104, a compression multiplexing unit 105, a recording processing unit 106, a drive control unit 108, an image generation unit 111, a video signal. It controls the processing unit 113, the separation / decompression unit 114, and the reproduction processing unit 115.

  The image generation unit 111 cooperates with the video signal processing unit 104, the image memory 116, the thumbnail memory 117, and the image reduction unit 118 to display menu screen data including a menu screen that can list the contents recorded on the recording medium 10. Is generated. Details of the operation for generating the menu screen data will be described later. The image generation unit 111 outputs the generated menu screen data to the image memory 116 and the video signal processing unit 113.

  The image memory 116 is a memory that holds the menu screen data generated by the image generation unit 111.

  The thumbnail memory 117 is a memory that holds data containing thumbnails (hereinafter referred to as “thumbnail data”).

  The image reduction unit 118 acquires the video signal of the representative image of the content from the video signal processing unit 104, creates thumbnail data of the representative image indicated by the acquired video signal, and stores the created thumbnail data in the thumbnail memory 117.

  The display unit 112 displays the video signal output from the video signal processing unit 113 on a monitor or the like.

  The video signal processing unit 113 converts the expanded content output from the separation / expansion unit 114 into a video signal. The video signal processing unit 113 outputs the video signal obtained by the conversion to the display unit 112. Also, the video signal processing unit 113, as necessary, multiplexes the menu image generated by the image generation unit 111 as it is or the expanded content output from the separation / expansion unit 114 and displays it as a video signal. Output to.

  The separation / decompression unit 114 converts the content output from the reproduction processing unit 115 into MPEG-2 or H.264 that the compression multiplexing unit 105 has applied. Based on an encoding method such as H.264, it is separated and expanded. The separation / decompression unit 114 outputs the content obtained by the decompression to the video signal processing unit 113.

  The reproduction processing unit 115 reads content to be reproduced from the recording medium 10. The reproduction processing unit 115 outputs the read content to the separation / decompression unit 114.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an example of processing related to thumbnail creation executed by the recording / reproducing apparatus 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  The image reduction unit 118 acquires the video signal of the representative image of the content from the video signal processing unit 104 (S101).

  The image reduction unit 118 creates thumbnail data containing thumbnails obtained by reducing the representative image indicated by the acquired video signal to an integer multiple of a predetermined block size (S102). Here, the predetermined block size is, for example, the size of a macro block or the size of an orthogonal transform block.

  The image reduction unit 118 stores the created thumbnail data in the thumbnail memory 117 (S103), and ends the process.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an example of processing relating to creation of a menu screen executed by the recording / reproducing apparatus 100 according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  The image generation unit 111 acquires a menu creation instruction that the user inputs to the input unit 109 via the control unit 110 (S201).

  The image generation unit 111 acquires thumbnail data held in the thumbnail memory 117 (S202).

  The image generator 111 represents the origin of the pixel at the upper left corner of the thumbnail when the position of each pixel is represented on coordinates that increase in units of pixels from the upper left corner of the background image to the right in the horizontal direction and downward in the vertical direction. The horizontal distance from is a multiple of a predetermined block horizontal size, and the vertical distance from the origin of the pixel at the upper left corner of the thumbnail is a multiple of the predetermined block vertical size (hereinafter referred to as “integer position”). Menu screen data in which thumbnails are arranged (S203).

  The predetermined block is, for example, a macro block used for image compression encoding or an orthogonal transform block. Such a process is a process for generating the menu data including a screen in which a straight line portion of a thumbnail is used for image compression encoding in accordance with a boundary of an orthogonal transform block or a macro block used for image compression coding. It is an example.

  The image generation unit 111 selects a standard image to be arranged on the menu screen from a group of standard images held by the image generation unit 111, and also displays the integer position of the menu screen indicated by the menu screen data generated in the thumbnail acquisition process (S202). Menu screen data in which thumbnails are arranged is generated (S203).

  The predetermined block is, for example, a macro block used for image compression encoding or an orthogonal transform block. Such processing is performed by selecting a fixed image to be arranged in the background image from a fixed image group held in advance, and a macroblock used for image compression coding for the linear portion of the fixed image selected as the background image, or This is an example of processing for generating menu data having a screen arranged in accordance with the boundary of orthogonal transform blocks.

  The image generation unit 111 stores menu screen data indicating a menu screen on which thumbnails and fixed images are arranged in the image memory 116 (S205).

  The image generation unit 111 transmits information indicating the position and size of each thumbnail and fixed image to the compression multiplexing unit 105 (S206).

  The compression multiplexing unit 111 receives information indicating the position and size of each thumbnail and fixed image from the image generation unit 111 (S207).

  The compression multiplexing unit 105 acquires menu screen data from the image memory 116, refers to information indicating the positions and sizes of the thumbnails and the fixed images, and performs filter processing such as a deblocking filter on the outer periphery of the thumbnails and the fixed images. The encoded menu data is generated by compressing and encoding the menu screen data without performing the above. At the same time, the compression multiplexing unit 105 further compresses and multiplexes other image data, audio data, and the like to the encoded menu data, thereby generating compressed and multiplexed content data (S208).

  Here, the filtering process such as the deblocking filter reduces the compression distortion of the block boundary. However, the filtering process is not performed only on the outer periphery of the thumbnail and the fixed image, so that the boundary between the thumbnail and the fixed image and the background image is reduced. Can be clarified.

  The recording processing unit 106 acquires the compressed and multiplexed content data including the encoded menu data from the compression multiplexing unit 105, and records the acquired compressed and multiplexed content data on the recording medium 10 (S209).

  As described above, the recording / reproducing apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment arranges thumbnails at integer positions of the background image. Since the thumbnail is generally rectangular, this allows at least two sides of the thumbnail to be aligned with a predetermined block boundary. In the present embodiment, the size of the thumbnail created by the image reduction unit 118 is an integer multiple of a predetermined block size. By arranging such thumbnails at integer positions in the background image, all four sides of the thumbnail can be aligned with a predetermined block boundary.

  In this way, by aligning the sides of the thumbnail with the boundary of a predetermined block used in compression encoding, compression distortion at the boundary can be eliminated.

  The thumbnail is an image obtained by reducing the screen included in the content, but is not limited thereto. For example, when the screen included in the content does not satisfy the predetermined number of pixels as the size of the thumbnail arranged on the menu screen, the thumbnail is an image by enlarging the screen.

  FIG. 6 is an example of a menu image generated by the image generation unit 111. The menu image includes a background image 300, thumbnails 301 to 306, and fixed images 310 to 313.

  The upper left corner 321 of the thumbnail 301 shown in this figure is arranged at the first integer from the left and the third integer from the top of the macroblock indicated by the small square in this figure, with the upper left corner of the background image as the origin 320. Yes. Further, the horizontal length of the thumbnail 301 is six macroblocks, and the vertical length is three macroblocks. The other thumbnails 302 to 306 have the same size, and the vertices of the thumbnails 302 to 306 are arranged at integer positions.

  As a result, all four sides of the thumbnail match the macroblock boundary.

  Further, the upper left corner 322 of the standard image 310 is also arranged at an integer position. For the other fixed images 311 to 313, the upper left corner is arranged at an integer position.

  As a result, when the standard image includes a horizontal or vertical straight line starting from the upper left corner, at least a part of the standard image matches the boundary of the macroblock.

  Menu data containing the menu screen shown in this figure is generated by the processing described with reference to FIGS.

  It is necessary to hold the thumbnail until the menu screen data generation is started, that is, until the user instructs the recording / playback apparatus 100 to execute the finalizing process. This is because the thumbnail once stored in the thumbnail memory 117 is recorded. This can be realized by the processing unit 106 reading it out and recording it as a thumbnail file on the recording medium 10. In this case, when executing the finalizing process, the reproduction processing unit 115 reads the thumbnail file from the recording medium 10 and stores the read thumbnail in the thumbnail memory 117, and then the image generating unit 111 generates the menu screen data.

  As another method, instead of the video signal processing unit 104 acquiring a representative image at the time of shooting, the video signal processing unit 113 sequentially reproduces part of the content included in the recording medium 10 at the time of finalizing processing. May be acquired and output to the image reduction unit 118. In this method, it is not necessary to record a thumbnail file on the recording medium 10, but the time required for executing finalization becomes longer.

  When the user instructs execution of the finalizing process on the recording medium 10 via the input unit 109, the image generation unit 111 sequentially reads the thumbnails 301 to 306 from the thumbnail memory 117, and the background image 300 and the fixed images 310 to 313 generated by itself are used as the background. Menu image data arranged in the image 300 and including the menu image shown in FIG. 6 is generated and stored in the image memory 116. At this time, all or some of the fixed images 310 to 313 can be recorded on the recording medium 10 as data different from the menu image as appropriate. Details of this method will be described later.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a file structure recorded on the recording medium 10 in the present embodiment. In FIG. 7, under the content folder (CONTENTS), an info file 11 (info), a menu file 12 (menu), a playlist folder (PLAYLIST), a clip info folder (CLIPINF), and a stream folder (STREAM). ) And are stored.

  In the info file 11 (info), management information of the entire directory is recorded. The menu file 12 (menu) includes information constituting the menu.

  Furthermore, a plurality of playlist files such as “01001.plst” and “02002.plst” are stored under the playlist folder (PLAYLIST). Each playlist file includes information related to the playback order and playback time of content associated with a clip info file to be described later.

  In this figure, for example, in the playlist file 13 (01000.clpi), contents first associated with “00:00:00 to 0:15:30” and “01000.clpi” described later are displayed. Indicates that information indicating that playback is included is included.

  A plurality of clip info files such as “01000.clpi” and “02000.clpi” are stored under the clip info folder (CLIPINF). Each clip info file includes a time table for associating positions of time information and video data and realizing partial reproduction and special reproduction.

  This figure shows, for example, that “01000.m2ts” to be described later is associated with the clip info file 14 (01000.clpi).

  A plurality of stream files such as “01000.m2ts” and “02000.m2ts” are stored under the stream folder (STREAM). Each stream file includes an AV data file.

  The control unit 110 uses three types of files: a playlist file, a clip info file, and a stream file for playback control. In the playlist file, a clip info file to be reproduced and a reproduction time are described. When this playlist file is reproduced, the instructed clip info file is referred to, and the stream file designated by using information such as the time table is reproduced.

  For example, the playlist file 13 (01001.plst) indicates that the clip file “01000.clpi” that is the first clip and the clip file “02000.clpi” that is the second clip are played in this order. Contains information. At this time, for the first clip, the stream file “01000.m2ts” associated with the clip info file “01000.clpi” is reproduced. For the second clip, the stream file “02000.m2ts” associated with the clip info file “02000.clpi” is reproduced.

  FIG. 8 shows the data structure of the menu file in the present embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 8, the menu file 12a is a menu file describing a menu image (see, for example, FIG. 6) that lists the content recorded on the recording medium 10 divided into a plurality of pages.

  The menu file 12a illustrated here includes, in order from the top, each playlist file such as “C & G # 1”, “C & G # 2”, “C & G # 3”, “C & G # 4”,. “C & G”, which is associated data, is included. After that, the data associated with each “C & G” such as “Still Picture # 1,” “Still Picture # 2,” “Still Picture # 3,” “Still Picture # 4,” etc. A certain “Still Picture” is included.

  “C & G” is data composed of control information and fixed image information.

  “Still Picture” is data obtained by encoding a menu image. Also, a part of the standard images constituting the menu image, for example, a frame, a button, and the like are associated with a command for controlling the menu display.

  For example, the recording / reproducing apparatus 100 displays the menu image of the first page including the thumbnail images of the clips described in the playlist file (01001.plst) based on “C & G # 1”. Then, when an operation for displaying the menu of the next page is received from the user in a state where the menu of the first page is displayed, the same operation is performed for “C & G # 2” subsequent to “C & G # 1”. Execute the process. Then, the menu image of the second page including the thumbnail images of the clips described in the playlist file (02002.plst) is displayed. The same applies to “C & G # 3” and “C & G # 4”.

  When playback is performed according to the menu file 12a, the control unit 110 first displays a menu screen as shown in FIG. 6 using “Still Picture # 1” based on “C & G # 1”. In other words, a menu image in which six thumbnail images such as “opening ceremony” and “ball throwing” are arranged on the background image is image-encoded as “Still Picture # 1”, and the color, shape, and the like by the user operation The fixed image information (for example, an arrow 313 indicating Page 2 or a frame indicating whether or not a thumbnail image is selected) is recorded in “C & G” together with the control information. The control unit 110 controls the separation / expansion unit 114 to reproduce the Still Picture # 1, and controls the image generation unit 111 and the video signal processing unit 113 to generate a necessary standard image based on the C & G # 1, and the Still Picture # 1. Multiplex to # 1 and output to the display unit 112 as a menu screen.

  When the user selects a thumbnail image to be reproduced from the menu and performs a reproduction operation, the control unit 110 refers to the corresponding playlist file and reproduces the stream file.

  In the present embodiment, when the image generation unit 111 generates the menu image of FIG. 6, the background image 300 and the thumbnails 301 to 301 are obtained so that good image quality can be obtained in the subsequent compression encoding process in the compression multiplexing unit 105. 306. Restrictions are placed on the arrangement and size of the fixed images 310 to 313.

  Specifically, when the image generation unit 111 arranges the thumbnail 301 on the background image 300, the thumbnail is arranged so that the upper left corner of the thumbnail 301 is an integer position as described above.

  For example, the compression multiplexing unit 105 uses MPEG2, MPEG4, or H.264. When the compression encoding is performed by H.264, the image generation unit 111 sets the thumbnail 301 so that the pixel 321 at the upper left corner of the thumbnail 301 is an integer position that is separated from the origin by a multiple of 16 pixels that is the macroblock size in both horizontal and vertical directions. It arranges in the background image 300.

  Accordingly, when the compression multiplexing unit 105 encodes the menu image of FIG. 6, when the compression processing is performed by dividing each macroblock in the horizontal and vertical directions from the origin 320, the upper left boundary of the thumbnail 301 coincides with the macroblock boundary. Therefore, on the upper side and the left side of the thumbnail 301, the pixel included in the background image 300 and the pixel included in the thumbnail 301 are avoided from being mixed in the same macroblock, and a macroblock having a large amount of compression distortion is avoided due to the mixing. can do. The same applies to the other thumbnails 302 to 306.

  Further, when the image reduction unit 118 reduces the representative image to generate a thumbnail and stores the thumbnail in the thumbnail memory 117, each horizontal and vertical size of the thumbnail is a multiple of the macro block or the orthogonal transform block in the image compression unit. Generate thumbnails.

  For example, the compression multiplexing unit 105 uses MPEG2, MPEG4, or H.264. When compression encoding is performed using H.264, the image reduction unit 118 generates the thumbnail 301 so that the thumbnail size is a multiple of 16 pixels that is the macroblock size in both horizontal and vertical directions.

  Accordingly, when the compression multiplexing unit 105 encodes the menu image of FIG. 6, when the compression processing is performed by dividing each macroblock in the horizontal and vertical directions from the origin 320, the boundary between the right side and the bottom side of the thumbnail 301 becomes the macroblock boundary. Therefore, the pixels included in the background image 300 and the pixels included in the thumbnail 301 can be prevented from being mixed in the same macroblock, and the occurrence of a macroblock with much compression distortion due to the mixing can be avoided. The same applies to the other thumbnails 302 to 306.

  Furthermore, when the image generation unit 111 arranges the background image 300 and the thumbnails 301 to 306, information indicating the position and size of each thumbnail is transmitted to the compression multiplexing unit 105, and the compression multiplexing unit 105 uses this information. By optimizing the image compression algorithm, the compressed image quality of the menu image can be improved.

  For example, the compression multiplexing unit 105 is H.264. When image compression processing is performed using the H.264 compression encoding algorithm, the following method can be considered.

  First, the background image 300 and the thumbnails 301 to 306 are not referred to each other when performing intra prediction. The second method is to change the initial value of the quantization parameter between when the background image 300 is encoded and when the inside of the thumbnails 301 to 306 is encoded. Third, there is a method in which a deblocking filter is not applied to the boundary portion between the background image 300 and the thumbnails 301 to 306 (for example, these methods are described in “H. Kakuno, Yoshihiro Kikuchi, Teruhiko Suzuki” H .264 / AVC textbook "Impress, August 11, 2004, p.106-113, p.136-138, p.140-144 (Non-patent Document 1)).

  The method described above using the thumbnail as an example is not effective only for the thumbnails 301 to 306. For example, the method is similarly applied to the case where the standard images 310 to 313 in FIG. I can do it.

  Furthermore, since the standard image, particularly the arrow 313, is often expressed by a single color or a limited number of colors and luminance levels, when the image generation unit 111 arranges the background image 300 and the standard images 310 to 313, Information indicating the position and size of each fixed image is transmitted to the compression multiplexing unit 105, and when the compression multiplexing unit 105 encodes the fixed image, the quantization step is made coarser than the background image. As a result, the data amount of the standard image portion can be reduced and the image quality of the menu screen can be improved.

  As described above, according to the recording / reproducing apparatus 100 in the present embodiment, the position and size of the thumbnail are matched with the boundary of the macro block or the orthogonal transform block, so that the macro block or the orthogonal transform block including the background image outside each thumbnail is obtained. It is possible to prevent a pixel of a thumbnail image having no correlation from being mixed, reduce compression distortion in these blocks, and obtain a good image quality.

  Further, at the time of generating the menu image, information indicating the position and / or size of each thumbnail on the menu image is transmitted to the image compression means, and the image compression means performs image compression processing based on the position and / or size information of each thumbnail. By applying, it is possible to reduce the compression distortion of the menu image and obtain a good image quality.

  Also, the standard image generated for multiplexing on the menu image is generated at the same position and size as the thumbnail, or is subjected to image compression, thereby reducing the compression distortion of the menu image and obtaining good image quality. I can do it.

  Furthermore, based on the information indicating the position and / or size of each of the fixed images, the fixed image is encoded by changing the quantization step for the background image portion and encoding the fixed image. The data amount can be reduced and the image quality of the entire menu image can be improved.

(Other)
The rewritable recording medium does not require a finalizing operation. However, a pseudo finalized state can be provided in order to make the operability common with the case of using the write-once recording medium. In this case, a pseudo finalization state can be saved by providing a finalization flag on the rewritable recording medium to indicate the presence or absence of the finalization process as an actual finalization process performed after recording the menu file.

  The recording / reproducing apparatus according to the present invention includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a system LSI (Large Scale Integration), a RAM (Random Access Memory), a ROM (Read Only Memory), a HDD (Hard Disk Network, etc.). May be provided. Furthermore, a drive device that can read from and write to a portable recording medium such as a DVD-RAM, a Blu-ray (registered trademark) disk, or a memory card may be provided.

  Note that the recording / reproducing apparatus may be an embedded system such as a digital video camera, a digital recorder, a digital TV, a game machine, an IP phone, a mobile phone, or the like.

  Further, a program for controlling the recording / reproducing apparatus (hereinafter referred to as a recording / reproducing program) is installed in the HDD or ROM, and each function of the recording / reproducing apparatus is realized by executing the recording / reproducing program. It may be done.

  The recording / reproducing program may be recorded on a recording medium readable by a hardware system such as a computer system or an embedded system. Furthermore, the program may be read and executed by another hardware system via the recording medium. Thereby, each function of the recording / reproducing apparatus can be realized in another hardware system. Here, as a computer system readable recording medium, an optical recording medium (for example, CD-ROM), a magnetic recording medium (for example, hard disk), a magneto-optical recording medium (for example, MO (Magneto-Optical disk)). Etc.) and semiconductor memory (for example, a memory card).

  Further, the recording / reproducing program may be held in a hardware system connected to a network such as the Internet or a local area network. Furthermore, it may be downloaded to another hardware system via a network and executed. Thereby, each function of the recording / reproducing apparatus can be realized in another hardware system. Here, as a network, a terrestrial broadcasting network, a satellite broadcasting network, a PLC (Power Line Communication), a mobile telephone network, a wired communication network (for example, IEEE802.3), and a wireless communication network (for example, IEEE802.11). There is.

  Alternatively, each function of the recording / reproducing apparatus may be realized by a recording / reproducing circuit mounted on the recording / reproducing apparatus.

  The recording / reproducing circuit includes a semi-custom LSI such as a full custom LSI (Large Scale Integration), an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), and a CPLD (Complex Gate Gate Array). It may be formed as a programmable logic device or a dynamically reconfigurable device whose circuit configuration can be dynamically rewritten.

  Furthermore, the design data for forming each function of the recording / reproducing apparatus in the recording / reproducing circuit may be a program described in a hardware description language (hereinafter referred to as an HDL program). Further, it may be a gate level netlist obtained by logical synthesis of an HDL program. Alternatively, macro cell information in which arrangement information, process conditions, and the like are added to a gate level netlist may be used. Further, it may be mask data in which dimensions, timing, and the like are defined. Here, examples of hardware description languages include VHDL (Very high speed integrated circuit Hardware Description Language), Verilog-HDL, and SystemC.

  Furthermore, the design data may be recorded on a recording medium readable by a hardware system such as a computer system or an embedded system. Furthermore, the program may be read and executed by another hardware system via the recording medium. Then, the design data read by the other hardware system via these recording media may be downloaded to the programmable logic device via the download cable.

  Alternatively, the design data may be held in a hardware system connected to a network such as the Internet or a local area network. Furthermore, it may be downloaded to another hardware system via a network and executed. And the design data acquired by other hardware systems via these networks may be downloaded to a programmable logic device via a download cable.

  Alternatively, the design data may be recorded in a serial ROM so that it can be transferred to the FPGA when energized. The design data recorded in the serial ROM may be downloaded directly to the FPGA when energized.

  Alternatively, the design data may be generated by a microprocessor and downloaded to the FPGA when energized.

  The present invention is a recording / reproducing apparatus that records audio and video on a portable recording medium and reproduces the recorded audio and video, particularly for recording AV data on a recording medium such as a semiconductor memory and an optical disk, and the like. Accordingly, it can be used as a video camera or the like that records menu information for displaying a menu screen.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a menu screen included in conventional menu data recorded on a recording medium. FIGS. 2A and 2B are perspective views showing the appearance of the recording / reproducing apparatus in the embodiment according to the present invention. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a hardware configuration of the recording / reproducing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an example of processing relating to thumbnail creation executed by the recording / playback apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an example of processing relating to creation of a menu screen executed by the recording / reproducing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a display example of the menu screen in the embodiment according to the present invention. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the structure of a file recorded on a recording medium according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the data structure of the menu file in the embodiment according to the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Recording medium 100 Recording / reproducing apparatus 101 Lens group 102 Imaging part 103 A / D conversion part 104 Video signal processing part 105 Compression multiplexing part 106 Recording processing part 108 Drive control part 109 Input part 110 Control part 111 Image generation part 112 Display part 113 Video signal processing unit 114 Separation / decompression unit 115 Playback processing unit 116 Image memory 117 Thumbnail memory 118 Image reduction unit

Claims (14)

A recording device that compresses and encodes an image in which image elements are arranged in a background image, and records the compression-encoded data on a recording medium,
Menu generation for generating menu data indicating an image in which the image element is arranged in the background image by aligning at least a part of the outer periphery of the image element with a macro block used for compression encoding or a boundary of an orthogonal transform block Means,
Image compression means for compressing and encoding the menu data generated by the menu generation means;
A recording apparatus comprising: recording means for recording the menu data compressed and encoded by the image compression means on the recording medium. Furthermore, image selection means for selecting an image included in the video data,
Thumbnail creation means for creating a thumbnail of the image selected by the image selection means,
The menu generating means aligns at least a part of the straight line portion included in the extension of the thumbnail created by the thumbnail creating means with the boundary of a macro block or orthogonal transform block used for compression encoding. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the menu data indicating an image arranged in the background image is generated. In the thumbnail creation means, the length of each side of the image selected by the image selection means is an integral multiple of the length of a side included in a macroblock or orthogonal transform block used for compression encoding. The recording apparatus according to claim 2, wherein a thumbnail is created. The menu generation unit further transmits at least one of information indicating a position on the background image where the thumbnail is arranged and information indicating a size of the thumbnail to the image compression unit. The recording apparatus according to claim 2 or claim 3. The image compression means further determines the outer periphery of the thumbnail from at least one of information indicating the position on the background image where the thumbnail transmitted by the menu generation means is arranged and information indicating the size of the thumbnail. The recording apparatus according to claim 4, wherein filtering processing is not performed on an outer periphery of the determined thumbnail. The menu generation means selects a fixed image to be arranged in the background image from a set of fixed images held in advance, and compresses at least a part of a straight line portion included in the outer periphery of the selected fixed image in the background image. The said menu data which shows the image arrange | positioned according to the boundary of the macroblock used for conversion or an orthogonal transformation block are produced | generated. The one of the Claims 1-5 characterized by the above-mentioned. Recording device. The menu generation unit may further include a side length included in a block in which at least a part of the horizontal and vertical linear portions included in the outer periphery of the selected fixed image is used for the image compression encoding. A boundary of an orthogonal transform block or a macroblock that is used for compression encoding at least a part of a straight line portion included in the outer periphery of the generated fixed image in the background image The recording apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the menu data indicating an image arranged in accordance with is generated. The said menu generation means transmits the information which shows the position on the said background image in which the said fixed image is arrange | positioned, and the information which shows the size of the said fixed image to the said image compression means. 8. The recording device according to 7. The image compression means further determines an outer periphery of the fixed image based on information indicating a position on the background image where the fixed image transmitted by the menu generating unit is arranged and information indicating a size of the fixed image. The recording apparatus according to claim 8, wherein filtering processing is not performed on an outer periphery of the determined fixed image. The image compressing unit is further configured for a standard image indicated by information indicating a position on the background image where the standard image transmitted by the menu generating unit is arranged and information indicating a size of the standard image. The recording apparatus according to claim 8, wherein encoding is performed by performing quantization different from that of the background image. In addition to the menu data, the image compression means further compresses and encodes content data including the video data,
11. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording unit records the content data compression-encoded by the image compression unit together with the compression-encoded menu data on the recording medium. The recording device according to item. A recording method in which an image in which image elements are arranged in a background image is compression-encoded, and the compression-encoded data is recorded on a recording medium,
A menu generation step for generating menu data including an image arranged on the background image in accordance with a boundary of a macroblock used for the image compression encoding or an orthogonal transformation block on the outer periphery of the image element;
An image compression step for generating compression-encoded menu data by applying compression encoding to the menu data generated in the menu generation step;
And a recording step of recording the compression-encoded menu data generated in the image compression step on the recording medium. A recording program that compresses and encodes an image in which image elements are arranged in a background image and records the compression-encoded data on a recording medium,
A menu generation step for generating menu data including an image arranged on the background image in accordance with a boundary of a macroblock used for the image compression encoding or an orthogonal transformation block on the outer periphery of the image element;
An image compression step for generating compression-encoded menu data by applying compression encoding to the menu data generated in the menu generation step;
A recording program for causing a computer to execute a recording step of recording the compression-encoded menu data generated in the image compression step on the recording medium. An integrated circuit that compresses and encodes an image in which image elements are arranged on a background image and records the compression-encoded data on a recording medium,
Menu generating means for generating menu data indicating an image in which the outer periphery of the image element is arranged on the background image in accordance with the boundary of the macro block or orthogonal transform block used for the image compression encoding;
Image compression means for generating compression-encoded menu data by compressing and encoding the menu data generated by the menu generation means;
An integrated circuit comprising: recording means for recording the compression-encoded menu data generated by the image compression means on the recording medium.

Images